1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor, a mounting structure of the multilayer ceramic capacitor, and a taped electronic component array.
2. Description of the Related Art
As electronic devices have been reduced in size in recent years, size reduction of multilayer ceramic capacitors used in these electronic devices have also been demanded.
Also, since the operation frequency has been rising in electronic devices such as a power amplifier (PA) module, the multilayer ceramic capacitor used therein is also required to exhibit few losses, a low ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) and a high Q value in a high frequency region. The high frequency region corresponds to a range of 100 MHz or more and 100 GHz or less, for example.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-306762 discloses a multilayer ceramic capacitor in which a high Q value is implemented in a high frequency region.
In the multilayer ceramic capacitor disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-306762, the thickness of the internal electrode is increased so as to lower the electric resistance value of the internal electrode and to raise the Q value. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-306762 discloses that, for example, in the case where Pd is used as a main component of the internal electrode, a relatively larger Q value can be obtained by forming this internal electrode to have a thickness of 12 μm or more. Furthermore, it also discloses that, in the case where Ag or Cu is used as a main component of the internal electrode, a relatively larger Q value can be obtained by forming this internal electrode to have a thickness of 9 μm or more.
Since the multilayer ceramic capacitor disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-306762 includes an internal electrode having a relatively large thickness (12 μm or more in the case of Pd as a main component of the internal electrode; and 9 μm or more in the case of Ag and Cu as main components of the internal electrode), the demand for size reduction required for the multilayer ceramic capacitor could not be satisfied.
Furthermore, the multilayer ceramic capacitor disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-306762 includes an internal electrode having a relatively larger thickness. Accordingly, during firing, peeling may occur in the interface between the internal electrode and the dielectric ceramic layer due to the difference of shrinkage between the internal electrode and the dielectric ceramic layer.